WHO Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations

Overview

The development of norms, standards and guidelines for the quality assurance and quality control of pharmaceuticals is an essential global task. As a fundamental role of the World Health Organization (WHO), this task has been endorsed by many resolutions of the World Health Assembly. It is a task that WHO is uniquely suited to carry out. Thus, guidelines on the quality assurance of pharmaceuticals are prepared in consultation with the 70-member WHO Expert Advisory Panel on the International Pharmacopoeia and Pharmaceutical Preparations and then evaluated by the Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations. If the Expert Committee approves, the guidelines are adopted as international standards. The Expert Committee’s rigorous consultative process involves WHO Member States, national authorities and international agencies such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).